IHT wrote:"Tea never goes bad, so it's a good investment," said Ji Xiaofeng, who manages a stall at Maliandao, Beijing's wholesale tea market.

That quote scares me. "Never goes bad" . . . what if it's stored in a barn next to your animals? What if it's stored in a damp shack with a truckload of mothballs or a gas powered generator? The mfgrs know what they're doing storage-wise; how about when some knucklehead gets a hold of it and stashes goodness knows where??? ewwwww . . . .

I found this view a lot in mainland China where there are shops full of young Puerh, and no tea over a few years of age. In Taiwan, where there is more old puerh, I found the opposite view.

I would say that just about every shop owner there could describe themselves as a Puerh Expert to a foreign journalist and would be keen to sell as much of their stock as possible. It's a rare thing for a shop owner to advise you otherwise.

For myself, relying on intuition for this, I drink mostly young sheng puerh, with a pot of something older every few days. On the level of the qi, I definitely feel older puerh has more to offer - balancing the body & providing a feeling of wellbeing. That said, on a purely health point, I feel young sheng after a heavy meal is much better for breaking down fatty food. This is just my personal feeling. I'd be interested to hear how other people feel.

I think that the worst thing about this article is that it seems to be promoting investment speculation, and in a way that makes it seem like a sure thing. It fails to mention that the recently skyrocketing prices are due to the speculators. Just when it seemed that these speculators were figuring out that they have a closet full of poorly stored crap tea that nobody will want to buy when it's aged...

But yes, I tend to stay far away from any "tea expert" - especially a "puerh expert." Maybe they'll interview "Dr. Tea" next

nada wrote: young sheng after a heavy meal is much better for breaking down fatty food.

if fat wasnt getting "broken down" and thus unable to be absorbed, fat would come out the other end (and be a very distinctive experience at that) and with it other nutrients and vitamins.... and in some time you end up with night blindness, skin problems, low calcium, osteoporosis, and bleeding. [this being a rather complete inability to absorb fat]

but i dont know if tea liquor that we drink has any emulsification properties

Catechins constitute about 25% of the dry weight of fresh tea leaf[1], although total catechin content varies widely depending on clonal variation, growing location, seasonal/ light variation, and altitude. They are present in nearly all teas made from Camellia sinensis, including white tea, green tea, black tea and Oolong tea.

Catechins are also present in the human diet in chocolate[2], fruits, vegetables and wine[3] and are found in many other plant species[4].